Some Ideas and Examples to Evaluate Ontologies

Abstract: The lack of methods for evaluating ontologies in laboratories can be an obstacle
to their use in companies. This technical report presents a set of emerging
ideas in evaluation of ontologies useful for: (1) ontologies developers in the
lab, as a foundation from which to perform technical evaluations; (2) end users
of ontologies in companies, as a point of departure in the search for the best
ontology for their systems; and (3) future research, as a basis upon which to
perform progressive and disciplined investigations in this area. After exploring
briefly some general questions such as: why, what, when, how and where to
evaluate; who evaluates; and, what to evaluate against, we focus on the
definition of a set of criteria useful in the evaluation process. Finally, we
discuss, by using the Bibliographic-Data ontology, some of these criteria.